People always told me that if I could steer Alyssa's determination and strong will in the right direction then it could be a force for good. When she sets her mind to something there is no stopping her. I can see how this has been a great benefit in her missionary work on so many levels. Here is just one example:
"This is random, but the other goal I made a random goal to talk to 87 people and nobody believed that I could do it so it bugged me and then I went and did it haha. I was way tired but here is a classic Alyssa story for you."
Glad to see that she is using her "Super Powers" for good. :)
And once again my heart is full of gratitude and love for those wonderful people in Japan that are taking care of my daughter.
Group Email for the week:
Minasan, konnichiwa!
Happy December and Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are all
enjoying the snow and the festivities and hearing scary ghost stories
and tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago and all that
good stuff haha. We are working hard here and enjoying the Christmas
festivities we have here as well....as in sharing the Christmas video
with literally everyone and occasionally seeing a decoration
somewhere! Definitely a different world over here, but I wouldn't want
to be anywhere else right now!
So this email won't be very long because I don't have a ton of time
today, but I wanted to share a couple quick experiences with you all
this week! First of all on Monday night I was blessed with a wonderful
birthday present...a shigansha! Our investigator Sayaka finally
committed to a baptism date set for next year and we are so excited.
We still have some WOW and LOC problems to overcome, but as she has
shown her faith to set this date, I know she will receive the heavenly
help she needs to progress and become truly converted!
So the Spirit is a super cool thing. On Wednesday we had the chance to
go and visit this recent convert with the elders named Daito Kyodai.
He is this super precious old grandpa who is blind in one eye and just
has the most precious testimony and we adore him! We really wanted to
go and visit him and as we were leaving I had the spur of the whim
thought to just bring this super beautiful chocolate cake that one of
my Eikaiwa students gave me, because I figured sharing is always a
happy thing to do. I also happened to have candles and everything in
the bag coincidentally, so it was kind of just like whatever. We get
there and are visiting him and we find out that it had been his
birthday the day before and nobody had celebrated it with him or even
knew...at that moment the Spirit just told me what to do and we just
whipped out this prepared birthday cake for him and sang to him and he
was SO overjoyed. He started crying and told us that nobody had ever
done anything like that for him before and he was so touched...he
asked us how we knew it was his birthday, and we just were able to
smile and tell him that Heavenly Father knew and that he loved him. It
was so special to me because once again my testimony was just so
strengthened that God knows and loves each and every one of us
individually. I love being an instrument of that love, it is the best
part of the entire mission.
Another funny thing happened on Thursday....so it was the worldwide
service day for the church and we made all these big plans to go out
and serve everyone and baptize the world and so we set out on our
bikes....and then we were on them for a while before my bike decided
to just die. The chain just completely died and it was unbridgeable
and we were then stranded on the side of the road...and were stuck
haha. We tried to fix it ourselves but it wasn't working and didn't
know what to do...we started joking around about how we needed one of
the 3 Nephites to roll up on a motorcycle and help us...and literally
two seconds later this mysterious dude on a motorcycle rolls up and
starts fixing my bike without saying a word and then just kind of
rides away...it was the craziest thing and such a miracle! Sadly it
still wasn't ride able but I could at least move it...shortly after
that we were guided by these 5 grandmas to a bike shop that ended up
being closed and then after that this college student fixed my bike
for like 45 minutes to the point I could ride it to another bike shop
where they FINALLY fixed it. It ended up being like this 3 hour ordeal
and it was such a hassle and I was so frustrated because we had all
these plans to go and serve all these people but then I instantly
realized that the Lord had spent the day serving ME. It was such a
sweet reminder of the incredible and sweet people that I have the
chance to be serving at this time. The Japanese are truly the most
Christlike people I have ever met...and they don't even know it. That
is why I feel so blessed to be here working with them at this time, so
we can show them the person that they are already following. I am not
teaching anything foreign to my brothers and sisters in Japan, but
merely helping to remind them of their special divine identity that
they just don't remember at the moment.
I love my mission so much. I wouldn't trade my experiences here for
anything, because they are worth everything to me. I know that God
lives and that He loves His children. I know that so much and am
reminded every single day as I get to be an instrument and message of
His love for His children here. It is so humbling to know how He feels
about all of us, and I promise that if you seek and ask Him...you will
come to know of His love for yourself.
Hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all to pieces and am so
grateful for all the prayers and support. You are all wonderful!
Aishiteimasu!
Love,
Sister Pickering
P.S. There is a rich member in our ward who never got married and so
he spoils us like crazy and here we are with 111 Snickers bars (where
he even got those I have no idea) he gave us yesterday!
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